Week of July 18: This week, a peek at David Bowie’s art collection (and his record player), Brazilian dance music from Mexico, and a tribute to the late Alan Vega.
David Bowie: Art Collector
The late David Bowie was more than a musician. He was an actor, a fashion icon, a role model for outsiders of many stripes… he was also an artist, and a collector of art. His own paintings tended towards the Expressionist – like his 1976 portrait of Iggy Pop. But his own collection was apparently wide-ranging, as we began to learn in the past week, when it was announced that Sotheby’s would stage a three-part sale called “Bowie/Collector.” Some 400 items will be exhibited in Sotheby’s New Bond Street galleries in London between November 1 and 10, with the auctions taking place on the 10th and 11th. But a preview of the exhibit will come to LA on September 20 and 21, and to New York from September 26 to 29. The press release rather breathlessly trumpets the collection as “something he kept almost entirely hidden from public view.” Not sure where they got that idea – Bowie was an early and vocal fan of British artists like Damien Hirst; interviewed artists (like Hirst, and Jeff Koons) for Modern Painters magazine; and launched his own art magazine, 21. Still, seeing the touring exhibit should be a fascinating glimpse into what inspired the man who inspired so many others. The collection will include:
“Witness” by Peter Lanyon, a member of the so-called St. Ives school —
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s “Air Power.” (Remember, Bowie played Andy Warhol in the biopic about Basquiat) —
Bowie’s record player! Made in the 1960s by the Italian designers Pier-Giacomo and Achille Castiglioni —
And of course Damien Hirst, represented here by one of his “spin” paintings —
From Mexico, A Blast Of Brazilian Funk
Camilo Lara is the mastermind behind the Mexican Institute of Sound – he’s the guy who did the Mexrissey project that Soundcheck produced and broadcast at BAM in May of 2015, where he reinvented the songs of The Smiths and the singer Morrissey as Mexican cumbias, rancheras and corridos. Now he’s teamed up with another of the leading figures in the Mexican electronic scene, the producer/DJ known as Toy Selectah, to form a band called Compass. Their debut album comes out on August 26, but they’ve just released their first single, called “Canta Sim Medo.” It’s got a strong Brazilian flavor, both in its Portuguese lyrics and its brief, bossa nova guitar at the beginning. But then come the pulsing drums and the funky horns, and the strong suggestion that all the world is not a stage, but a dance floor.
Agnes Obel’s Enigmatic, Beautiful New Song
Danish-born, Berlin-based singer/pianist Agnes Obel is not nearly as well known in the States as she should be. In Europe; her videos have been hugely popular (“Riverside” is nearing 20 million views); and her albums, beginning with her 2010 debut Philharmonics, offer a lyrical, twilit blend of classical instrumentation with songwriting skills that call to mind Leonard Cohen, Nina Simone, and Elliott Smith. She is preparing to release her new album, Citizen of Glass, on October 21, but the first single and video have just come out. The song is called “Familiar,” a perhaps ironic title given the strange twist the song takes in its chorus: Obel seems to route her voice through a pitch shifter, resulting in an eerie, male alter ego. Churning strings propel the song, and Obel’s longtime boyfriend and video director, Alex Bruel Flagstad, turns in an enigmatic video full of strange, pixilated views of modern technology.
Alan Vega Dies; Tributes Pour In
Alan Vega, who was the vocalist and frontman for the groundbreaking proto-punk band Suicide, died this weekend. He was 78. This in itself is noteworthy, because for fans of the band who stopped paying attention after the turn of the century, we all assumed he was a good deal younger. Turns out he spent most of his career claiming he was born in 1948 when the reality was he was ten years older. Vega was one of those artists who, in his heyday (late 70s/early 80s), was a figure of almost mythic proportion, in a very circumscribed circle of musical friends. But Suicide’s influence would eventually become apparent to many more listeners and critics, and the work done by Alan Vega and his musical partner Martin Rev is now considered to be crucial to the development of 80s synthpop, industrial rock, electronica, etc. The Suicide sound was basically cheap electric keyboards and rudimentary drum machines with Alan Vega intoning (sometimes speaking, occasionally actually singing) words that sounded like stream-of-consciousness over the top. This could be chilling and, frankly, hard to listen to, as with the epic “Frankie Teardrop,” or it could be spellbinding, as with the oft-covered single “Dream Baby Dream.” Bruce Springsteen was a fan, and one of a horde of musicians who rushed out written or musical tributes to Vega in the last two days. Another was DJ Windows 98. You may know him better as Win Butler, the singer and frontman for Arcade Fire. Above is his version of “Dream Baby Dream,” which he retitles “K33p Ur Dr34ms Win98.”
Teenage Fanclub Return In September, Release Single Now
Scottish alternative-rockers Teenage Fanclub have been at it for almost 30 years now, but it’s been almost six years since their last album, so fans of the Fanclub will be marking September 9 on their calendars. That’s the date when Here, the new record, will be released. There are twelve songs, four by each of the band’s three singer/songwriters, and one of them, “I’m In Love,” is available now. As is often the case with this band, you can’t extrapolate from one track what the whole album will sound like, but the song’s jangly, Byrds-like guitars and vocal harmonies have been a consistent part of the Teenage Fanclub sound.